There are not words to adequately express my thanks as I look back over the first year of the Me.Now. Movement. A year ago, I was an idealist with no experience managing a website or writing blog posts. Today, I am a published author and award-winning speaker with a new daughter, midway through my MBA. Allowing myself to value ‘Me’, and to take action ‘Now’ has given me courage and opportunity I never knew before. And for those who have journeyed with me, I know the same is true for you.

With the new year fast approaching, I am eager to share that new opportunities continue to present themselves for our community! Podcast hosts, bloggers and event coordinators have started reaching out to me for interviews and speaking engagements for 2018. One particularly exciting development happened in late November 2017 when I was approached by two separate casting agencies for large-scale, national television production projects. While I’ve always felt comfortable behind a keyboard or on a stage, the challenge of preparing myself to talk in front of a camera was humbling and unnerving. I cannot share details of either project at this point, but I promise to update this group as soon as possible after I find out if either, neither or both opportunities choose to move me forward!

To wrap up 2017, I am excited to revisit the 4 goals we set for this first year and happy to report that 3 of those goals have been met or exceeded. I will have to challenge us further to reach new heights in 2018!

Grow the movement by 1 member per week in 2017.
STATUS: Our Movement has grown to 78 active members and more than 100 followers. That is 340% above our objective! We’ve seen members change careers, grow families, start new businesses and achieve new healthy lifestyles. The message behind the Me.Now. Movement is stronger than ever because of the courage, commitment and community this group represents.

Gain exposure for the Movement on 1 public media outlet in 2017.
STATUS: The Me.Now. Movement has gained exposure in newsprint, multiple podcasts, and two separate news media interviews! It would appear that our original goal was not as aggressive as I had thought. Once the Movement’s mission was shared, it quickly grew momentum among those eager to build a better future.

Generate $5,000 in income to grow the Movement in 2017.
STATUS: Unfortunately, this goal was missed in 2017. With just under $4,000 generated, our Movement was able to grow considerably in terms of professionalization and promotion. Despite missing our financial target, I am confident that 2018 will come with new avenues to raise the capital we need to keep growing!

Write 1 blog post a week on the Me.Now. Movement website in 2017.
STATUS: Our weekly blog posts continued through October 2017, at which point a new opportunity arose to translate blog content into book publication. After a few discouraging obstacles, I was successful in getting ‘Everyday Espionage: Winning the Workplace’ published as an eBook with a limited print edition. Many of you reading this post have that hard-copy print edition in your possession. A second installment is already in the works for 2018 and I am excited to keep growing our Movement’s legacy!

We are one year closer to where we want to be. Even though the destination is unclear, the progress is undeniable. I continue to find my inspiration from this group and from those of you taking risks and seeing achievement along side me. For all of you, I am grateful and humbled to call you friends.

For those exploring the Me.Now. Movement, welcome. For those ready to commit to your journey, I commend you! And for those who trek every day through the fear and doubt of accomplishment, I and others stand beside you to lift you up and celebrate your success. Journey on.

In November 2016, I founded the Me.Now. Movement to encourage people to pursue their passions and build a community of achievers. For many in the Movement, lives have already changed in incredible ways: jobs, finances, relationships, mental health. It appears that my own Me.Now. journey must now change also.

I was approached this week by a literary agency interested in converting my blog content into a book for publication. They have requested I provide an outline and a summary proposal to establish a target market segment and genre. Also this week, a social media agency approached me to create a new brand – ‘Andrew Bustamante’ – as the foundation for multiple media content channels including podcasts, vlogs, ebooks and professional speaking engagements. They have tentatively booked me to be a guest on a national podcast that commands an audience exceeding 100,000 subscribers. To say I was overwhelmed with new opportunities would be an understatement.

In April 2017 I did a series on achieving our goals called the April Challenge. In that series I highlighted that goals have to evolve, to be given space to grow and change. I originally set a goal to blog for 52 weeks, and publish a new post every Friday. It appears that the time has come to let this goal evolve into something new – something bigger than it was intended to be. And as my goals change and I succeed alongside others in the Movement, I am awestruck by the power of this community.

Convergent – \kən-ˈvər-jənt\ – Adjective: tending to move toward one point or to approach each other. EX: A tornado is powered by convergent airflow.

This week showed me the power of convergent community; a group of individuals moving toward a single point while at the same time moving toward one another. Merriam-Webster’s reference above to the power of a tornado is absolutely fitting. In a time where so much seems to divide us, I am grateful for the opportunity to see the impact when community unites us.

It all started with a simple blog post by William Mohaupt: St. Petersburg, Florida. Most people blog because they love to write. Writing for the pleasure of others is stressful and intimidating, but writing for your own joy is liberating and empowering. So was the story here, when William wrote about his recent trip to Florida and posted it to his virtual portfolio on WordPress. For a few days, his readership came in ones and twos like all new bloggers. Then on the fourth day his readership spiked into the hundreds. Days five and six continued to grow exponentially and his post blew past the one thousand reader mark. Today, twelve days later, his post has been viewed by more than 3,000 people!

A quick Google search will show that most bloggers are happy to have 200 views in a day. New bloggers often go a full year with fewer than 50 views a day. The blog you are reading has a good day when 40 viewers stop by. For those of us dedicated to sharing, the metrics are second to the purpose behind the content. That said, seeing how far your writing can reach is a powerful experience.

I find incredible encouragement and wisdom in posts by a young British blogger named Matt Kitson. While I’ve never met Matt, I am pretty sure of two things: 1) he and I are part of a convergent community dedicated to inspiring change, and 2) neither of us have seen 3,000 readers yet (MATT: My apologies if I’m wrong!). After seeing William’s post explode past 3,000 viewers, I couldn’t help but compare myself and wonder if my ‘good day at 40’ viewership was a sign of failure. Then one of Matt’s posts jumped into my head: Top Life Lessons I’ve learned from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s book. In this post, Matt summarized Arnold’s views on his blockbuster flop, ‘Last Action Hero.’ Using Arnold’s story, Matt shared the message that the, “world doesn’t care about your failure,” and instead we should look ahead to our future successes.

When we compare ourselves to others as a way to validate success or failure, we stop being part of the community. In the same way a tornado funnels into one point on the earth, all those who focus building a better future will one day converge and drive powerful change. Nobody counts the number of times we fail, or miss, or flop; the only metric that counts is the metric that shows we tried. Only those that never start are guaranteed never to see the finish line.

So where do all these pieces converge? William wrote his blog post on May 20th. I shared it with my ‘good day at 40’ followers on May 23rd, one of which happened to tag a restaurant discussed in William’s post. The social media person for that restaurant decided to reply to my post and re-post William’s blog on May 24th. 3,000 views later, the post keeps growing. I keep posting even when I doubt myself because of people like Matt who share wisdom from people like Arnold. My viewers grow, as do Matt’s, as do William’s. And in the end, our tornado will change the world.

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” – Mohammad Ali

Me.Now. completes its first 100 days tomorrow. While those 100 days feel like they have passed somehow both fast and slow, what has been accomplished is owed to all of you who continue to participate in our growing Me.Now. Movement. It is with humble thanks that I share the benefits I’ve seen from Me.Now. in these last 99 days.

Me.Now. is built on the principle we can achieve more together than apart. This principle has manifested for me in ways I never thought possible. The Me.Now. Movement has carried my ambition to be an entrepreneur from bar-napkin doodle to reality. I’ve found encouragement, business connections and practical guidance in the last 99 days that have enabled me to develop a product and launch a business with international ties. Trust Ema LLC is primed to begin sales in April 2017 and would not have been possible but for those Me.Now. early adopters in Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Florida who lifted me up every time I stumbled. While I do not know what the future holds for EMA, I know that I am surrounded by support.

Me.Now. advocates that commitment to passion and ambition will lead to new confidence and new opportunities. I found out this week that I was awarded a full-ride scholarship to the US business school of my choice. I applied for the same scholarship last year and did not receive the award. In my previous application, I researched and prepared a package that modeled every pillar of the scholarship’s ‘ideal candidate’ attributes. I was stressed throughout the process and greatly discouraged when I found out I was not chosen. This year, leaning on Me.Now. principals, I built an application designed only to represent me, not the ‘ideal candidate.’ I felt almost no stress because I knew that my success was not dependent on the scholarship. While I do not know why my package won the scholarship this year and not last, my confidence and commitment are redoubled to both the Me.Now. Movement and my own entrepreneurial journey.

Me.Now. encourages all people to stand firm against doubt and fear. A few weeks ago I wrote a post about ditching discouragement and noted that I and other members of the Me.Now. Movement had suffered recent setbacks. As I write this post, the same members I referenced then have overcome their adversity and built bridges to new opportunities through personal courage and collaboration with other Me.Now. members. The Me.Now. Movement has seen new job opportunities, new goals, new supporters and even new babies in the last two weeks simply because we do not let doubt and fear steer our course.

Thank you for letting me share this good news through a blog usually dedicated to storytelling. I believe it is very important to celebrate the victories whether big or small and simply couldn’t let these first 100 days go by without thanking this group for what you’ve done for me and what our Movement continues to do for one another!